Elevator signal



May 4 1926. 1,583,507

P, s. VAN BLOEM ELEVATOR SIGNAL File d April .28, 1925 gay bis 0 f 3 4 QZ Pau/ Jc/hy/er Vcm Bloem ATTORNEYS INVENTOR v Patented May 4, 1926.

UNITED STATES 11,5 3,507 PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL SOHUYLER VAN BLOEM, OF HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO VIKINGPRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELEVATOR SIGNAL.

Application filed April 28, 1925. Serial N10. 26,435.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL SOHUYLER VAN- BLonM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Hempstead, in the county of Nassau and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ElevatorSignals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relatesto signals for indicating the approach of anelevator car and the direction of its travel.

An object of the invention is to provide an elevator signal of simpleform which when unilluminate'd 'wi1l-be inconspicuous but which whenilluminated, ,upon the approach of an elevator car, will be renderedvery conspicuous and will distinctly indicate the direction of travel ofthe car.

A further object is the provision of a signal lens in the form of acover adapted to substantially conceal a lamp. The lamp cover is placedover a signal lamp projecting from or mounted in the wall adjacent theelevator shaft and adapted to be illuminated when the elevator carapproaches. The cover bears a direction indicating character which whenunilluminated by the lamp is indistinct or entirely invisible but whichwhen the lamp is illuminated by the approach of a car will becomedistinctly visible. The cover lens is also designed to reflect lightrays received from the signal lamp and direct them outwardly and rear.wardly upon the wall back of the signal in a manner to cause the signalto be surrounded with a halo of light. This increases theconspicuousness of the signal and calls attention to the approach of thecar.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the signal lens;

Fig. 2 a sectional view showing the lens mounted over the signal lamp;and

Fig. 3 a fragmentary sectional view of a slightly modified form ofsignal lens. v

Referring to the parts by numerals, 1 represents the signal lamp whichis so mounted as to be located in a proper relation to the signal lens,either in or upon a wall 2 adjacent an elevator shaft. The lamp 1 isnormally un'illuminated, but upon the approach of an elevator car it isadapted to be. illuminated by the closing of a circuit (not shown).

' .A dished or substantially cup-shape glasslens" 3 is placed over thelamp 1 and surrounds and encloses the outwardly projectend end of thelamp. The lens 3 is formed with a slightly convex, substantiallyvertical, front-signa'l-bearing portion or wall 4, preferably circularin outline. The front signal-bearing portion is supported by anintegral, continuous, rearwardly extending, annular ortion or member 5.The forward end of t e supporting portion is connected to the frontsignal-bearing portion around its edges and the rear end of saidsupporting portion is "suitably flanged as at 6 and is adapted to fitagainst the supporting wall or other lens supporting medium and besecured thereto by screws 7 or otherwise. The enclosing wall or memberis preferably conever, be formed with a different contour. The enclosingmember preferably diverges or enlarges rearwardly and is of materialtinuo'us and annular as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The saidsupportingportion may,-howdepth in order to off-set the signal-bearing member fromthe supporting wall and to completely enclose the projecting portion ofthe signal lamp 1. The lens 3 is preferably formed of translucent glassof a suitable color so that when the lens is dark or unilluminated theface of the signal-bearing front portion will have a uniform color andwill give no evidence of bearing a signal or direction-indicatingcharacter. When, however, the lens is illuminated light rays will passthrough the substantially vertical front signal-bearing portion andthrough the substantially horizontal continuous enclosing and supportingside member 5. The direction indicating signal or character will be morebrilliantly illuminated than the surrounding portion of the signalbearing member owing to the fact that it is of considerably lessthickness than the main body of the said member. The entire frontportion of the lens is vformed'to direct the emerging light raysforwardly away from the supporting wall in order that said rays may notinterfere with the production of a halo upon said wall by the lampsurrounding portion as will be presently described.

' The outer face of'the signal-bearing front wall of portion 4, of theylens is slightly roughened as at 8 to provide a light diffusing surface,and the inner face of the said wall is formed with a depression 9, inthe form of a direction indicating character. Thls character 1sindistlnct or 1nv1s1b1e when the lamp is unilluminated. When the lamp isilluminated by the approach of a car the entire front face of the lenswill become luminous and the direction indicating character will bedistinctly visible owing to the reduced thickness of the wall 4 at .thedepression and also to the reflecting and refracting effect of the sidewalls of the depression. The depression is. preferably of material depthin order to increase the contrast of the character with the surroundingface and cause the character to be clearly outlined when illuminated.The side walls 10 of the depression are preferably smooth and disposedsubstantially at right angles to the bottom of the depression wherebythey will reflect light rays from the lamp and direct them outwardlythrough the bottom of the depression. This concentration of the lightrays upon the character renders it more lummous.

The annular inner surface of the portion 5 of the lens is smooth andpreferabl diverges slightly from the front to the ack. The annular outersurface of the portion 5 has aseries of light-reflecting ribs or ridges12 formed thereon. These ridges extend circumferentially entirely aroundthe portion 5, and are arranged side by side from front to back andextend in planes parallel to the wall 2 when the lens is mounted inposition,

over the lamp, as shown in Fig. 2, of the drawings.

The cross sectional form of each light-reflecting ridge 12 issubstantially prismatic, and it is formed with a continuous forwardlyfacing reflecting surface 13'and a continuous rearwardly facingreflecting surface 14. The reflecting surface 13 is disposed at such anangle that most of the light rays from the lamp passing through thethickness of the portion 5 and received by the surface 11 will. fallthereon at an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle, or theangle at which they would emerge through the surface 13. There istherefore a total reflection of these light rays within the ridge andthey are directed outwardly and rearwardly through the ridge and emergethrough the rear reflecting surface 14. The inclination of the surface14 of each ridge is such as to properly direct the emerging reflectedrays toward the room wall or lens support back of the lens. This causesthe signal to be surrounded by a halo of light which greatly increasesitsconspicuousness and calls attention to the approach of a'car; Theserear reflecting surfaces 14 also serve to reflect the rays received fromthe lamp in a manner similar to the reflecting action of the forwardfaces 13. In the case of the faces 14, however, the rays are reflectedoutwardly and forwardly through the ridges. emerge through the faces 12and are directed toward the observer.. This reflection will give the '5are integrally formed. If desired, how

ever, in order to facilitate the molding of the lens, the front and therearwardly extending portion may be separately formed and joinedtogether and the ridges rounded at their inner and outer ends. Thislatter structure is indicated in Fig. 3.

While I have shown and described my invention as adaptedfor use as anelevator signal, it obviously has other adaptations, as for instance, itmight be used as a sign or for illuminating purposes of a particularcharacter. It is also obvious that certain features of the signalstructure such as the precise shape, arrangement and location of thereflecting ridges may be varied without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

What I claim is:

1. A device of' the class set forth comprising a substantiallycup-shapedglass covering for a wall lamp formed with a front portion adapted toadmit light through. 1t; an annular lamp-surrounding portion of materialdepth extending rearwardly from the front portion, close by said frontportion and formed upon lts outer surface with a plurality ofperipherally extending ribs arranged along the depth of the annularportion, each of said ribs being formed with a forwardly fac ngreflecting surface and a rearwardlyfacmg reflecting surface, theforwardly facing refleeting surfaces being disposed to receive rays fromthe enclosed lamp through the thickness of the annular portion, reflectthem and direct them outwardly and rear-' wardly toward the room wallback of the covering and surround it with a. halo of light upon thewall, and the said rearwardly facing surfaces of the ribs being disposedto receive rays from the lamp, reflect them and direct them outwardlyand forwardly to render the ribs luminous, the said'front tion admittinglight rays through it an being formed to direct the admitted raysforwardly away from the said room wall irrespective of the longitudinalposition of the lamp within the covering.

2. A device of the class set forth comprising a substantially cup-shapedglass covering for a wall lamp, formed with a front portion and alamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardly from the front portion,closed at its front end by said front portion and formed upon one of itslamp-Surrounding surfaces with a plurality of lightreflecting surfacesdisposed transversely with reference to the axis of the covering andarranged to receive light rays from the portion admitting light ra sthrou h it and said rays forwardly away being formed to direct su stantial y all of from the room wall irrespective of the ngitudinal positionof the lamp within the covering.

3. A. device of the class set forth comprising a substantiallycup-shaped covering for a wall lamp, formed with a front portion and alamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardly from the front portion,closed at its'front end by said front portion and formedupon one of itslamp-surrounding surfaces with a plurality of lightreflecting surfacesdisposed transversely with reference to the axis of the covering andarranged to receive light rays from the enclosed lamp, reflect them anddirect them outwardly and rearwardly to-create a halo of lightsurrounding the lamp covering upon the room wall back of it, the saidfront portion admitting light ra s through it and being formed to directsu stantially all of said rays forwardly away from the room wallirrespective of the longitudinal position of the lamp Within thecovering, one face of the front portion being formed to diffuse thelight rays passing through it.

4JA device of the class set forth comprising a substantially cup-shapedcovering or a wall lamp, formed with a front portion bearing adirection-indicating character and a lamp-surrounding portion extendinrearwardly from the front portion, close at its front end by said frontportion and formed upon one of its lam -surrounding surfaces with aplurality of light-reflecting surfaces disposed transversely 'withreference to the axis of the covering and arranged to receive light raysfrom the enclosed lamp, reflect them and direct them outwardly andrearwardly to create a halo of 1i ht sur rounding the lamp covering upont e room wall back of it, the said front portion ad-. mitting light raysthrough it and bein formed to direct substantially all of sai raysforwardly away from the room wall irrespective of the longitudinalposition of the lamp Within the covering.

5. A device of the class set forth comprising a substantially cup-shapedglass covering for a wall lamp formed with a front portion adapted toadmitlight' rays through it and to direct substantially all of said raysforwardly away from the room wall irrespective of the longitudinalposition of the lamp within the covering, said front portion beingformed in its rear face with a depression having the outline of adirection indicating character and adapted to admit a greater number oflight rays through it than through the surrounding area of the frontportion; and a lamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardly from thefront portion, closed at its front end by said front portion and formedupon one of its lamp-surrounding surfaces with a plurality oflight-reflecting surfaces disposed transversely with reference to theaxis of the covering and arranged to receive light rays from theenclosed lamp, reflect them and direct them outwardly and rear-' wardlyto create a halo of light surrounding the lamp covering upon the roomwall back of it.

In testimony whereof 'I hereunto aflix my signature.

PAUL SGHUYLER VAN. BLOEM,

